Mark of the Fool

Chapter 295: The Battle of Chitterer Dungeon

Whoooosh!

The monsters plummeted down from the high ceiling, aiming dozens of weapons at everyone below. It was as if the spectre of death was falling to either crush Alexs team, cleave them apart, or both. He doubted that how they died really mattered to the plunging horrors dropping from above, just so long as they died. With Theresas warning and the hideous cries coming closer, the team reacted.

Wizards Hands grabbed Small Water Elementals.

The whole group scattered and leapt for the sides of the chamber.

But Meikarainexperience in combatwas a step too slow.

The blood mage stumbled.

The fleshy monsters plummeted, multiple weapons poised to stab through her defences and end her.

Thundar cursed and pivoted.

Shit!

His form blurred, he leapt, grabbed the healer and jumped clear, all in one unbroken movement. He drove his body to the side of the chamber with the power of his enhanced strength, and soared from the path of the monsters bulkbut with Meikara in tow, he was now slower by a heartbeat.

Just a heartbeat.

Scchnnnk!

Aaaaargh!

A sword tip slashed along the back of his force armour as the monsters came to rest on the chamber floor.

Crunch!

His force spell shattered, the blade sheared cloth and thick hide, piercing the minotaurs back. Thundars pained cry escaped his throat, but he stayed on his feet, his hooves skidded along stone then brought him to an abrupt halt with Meikara tucked beneath one arm.

Hey! he shouted, as the back of his shirt washed red. Are you ok-

There was a sudden intake of breath from dozens of mouths.

Alex recognized the creatures as gibbering legions.

Thundar went silent.

Flesh swelled as the monsters inhaled, taking in a massive breath.

And then, they screamed. From a host of mouths shrieking as one, undulating sounds slammed Alexs eardrums and stabbed into his thoughts. Sound, sight, taste, and touch collided in his senses, looking to disorient him, but through experience with the dazing cries of a shoggoth, the shrillness of demon voices, the clamouring from hosts of enraged monsters, and the Marks obstructions, hed learned to acknowledge the interferences and let them go.

His friends werent so fortunate.

Most screamed at the mental assault. Hogarth fell to his knees, clawing frantically at his helmet through the Orb of Air like he was trying to rip his own ears off. Grimloch roared, shaking his head like he was gripped by a fit of some kind, snapping at the air like something only he could see was attacking him.

Only Cedric seemed able to shake the auditory assault off, roaring out a prayer to Uldar: Oh mighty Uldar, bless our minds! Protect us gainst these fiends!

A wave of light gathered around his spear.

Alex reacted at the same time.

Claygon! he shouted, his voice loud enough for both the dungeon core and Cedric to hear. Stay with the team! Knock the wind out of that monster!

The golem turned on the gibbering legion and smashed a pair of his fists into the creatures side. Gibbering screeches immediately died as the force blasted its breath clean away.

Then divine power from Cedrics spear exploded outward in all directions like a wave: a halo of holy light enveloped the team. Whoever it touched was shaking their head trying to clear it, working to recover from the monstrous screams as Alex moved past the interference that had tried to steal their reason.

Just in time.

The other massive commander charged, twitching dozens of fleshy arms that encircled its dune-shaped body, flexing them, raising shields and rusty weapons.

Heading directly for Alex.

It slid along the stonewith swords slashing and spears stabbing, driving its spongy body past recovering team membersfocusing its rush on the secret Fool. Gritting his teeth, Alex quickly positioned a deflective rectangle to catch a spear-thrust, then moved back from the incoming assault; using the Cleansing Movements and a blend of dance movements to keep clear of the monsters blows.

With horrendous screeching from scores of gibbering mouths, the second commander whirled on the team, striking at them from all directions. They flinched away from the sound of its voices, gritting their teeth, giving ground as the piercing noise stabbed at their minds, but this time, they didnt fall; this time Uldars holy energy guarded them. Cedric roared, his cry reverberating off stone walls as he leapt straight for the creature, his spear shedding divine light.

Crash!

Claygon grabbed the gibbering legion, smashing his hands through its web of shields with a pair of enormous fists. The team attacked, more chitterers burst from cocoons, flinging themselves into the melee.

Alexs attention was no longer focused on chitterers; he suddenly had much more lethal problems to worry about.

The world became a hail of steel and stone as the giant, gibbering monster repeatedly struck at him, trying to impaling him from a half dozen different directions. Spears and shields clashed against stone in a frenzied attack, piercing empty air and scraping against his force shield as he just barely dodged the blows. Even a half a year ago, he wouldve been skewered in under five heartbeats by the monsters onslaught.

Now, his reflexes were sharper and his movements more practised: he pushed his body to its limits, guiding weapons away from vital organs and dancing out of reach of others.

But he wasnt entirely on the defensive.

Claygon! he yelled, ensuring all heard his voice. Charge your fire-beams!

Whooooom!

As he ducked a sword stroke aimed for his head, the fire-gems began charging. Alex returned his focus to the dome-shaped monster gibbering before him.

You call that an attack? he said, leaping out of reach of three spear thrusts as it chased after him. Ive met beast-goblins that fight better than you!

Its screeching built in volume at his mocking. Seems you didnt like that. Alex grinned as it threw itself at him again and again, trying to body slam him into the chamber walls. If he could keep this one distracted, then the team could make short work of the chitterers and the other one, then they could all deal with this one and the dungeon core. Divide and conquer.

And, he had more in mind for this creature than a game of tag.

With a mental command, Wizards Hands shot through the forest of shields, blades and spearswhile he dodged the monsters flailing assaultto drop precious cargo on its domed form: two Small Water Elementals filled with bubbles of sleeping potion.

The liquid creatures slipped through gaps in raised shields.

Push the potions in! he commanded, ducking below a spear thrust, weaving around another, then deflecting a sword-strike with his armoured arms. Extract as much water as you like!

The water elementals bubbled in glee, then pushed two doses of sleeping potion into Alexs attacker, filtering it through the creatures skin.

The effect was immediate.

Within heartbeats, the monsters actions began slowing as sleeping potion seeped into its system. It fought in vain, flailing and shivering; its movements becoming sluggish. The two water elementals hadnt finished the task theyd been given yet: and happily began draining the dungeon cores commander.

Whoooosh!

The monster shuddered as the pair did what they did best, pulled bodily fluid out, purifying it, then spraying the water through the air. The creatures flesh began withering like tomatoes drying in the hot sun, and its arms spasmed and flailed in panic even as its movements grew increasingly sluggish.

Alexs two Small Water Elementals slowly drained fluid from the gibbering legion and it slowed further as Alex danced away and sent one of his Wizards Hands searching through his bag for a

The thought froze.

Mana was gathering beneath his feet. Dark mana.

He sprang to the side.

Schnk!

Razor-sharp stalagmites shot from the stone beneath him, scraping his force armour as he jumped away. He shot a glare toward the dungeon core.

Im gonna get you for that, he growled.

The orbs attendant held its master in one hand, pointing it at Alex while the other hand gestured at Cedric. With a cry that could curdle blood, it unleashed a spear of lightning at Uldars Chosen. Cedric instantly conjured a divine shield and deflected the blast toward the ceiling.

Crack!

Stone ruptured as the magic struck, raining stone shards onto the chamber floor. His teammates dodged falling rocks, and lashed out at the other gibbering legion and the chitterers surrounding them.

Khalik sprayed the commander with acid. The corrosive substance burned flesh and melted weapons, while Isolde raked it with lightning. Fumes rose from the screeching monster. Blades and spears it was gripping acted as lightning rods, conducting her wrath into its fleeing bulk.

Splorcth!

Grimloch struck it with his spiked, lead maul, splintering shields and burying the hammer in the creatures side. It flinched, still screaming in agony, shrinking back as the weapons poison sank in. The sharkman wasnt finished. He charged with full force, hitting it square in the centre, body-slamming it in his full armour, then in a frenzy, he buried his teeth into one flailing arm after the next.

The monstrous limbs were cast through the air like a stream of caught fish.

As Grimloch ripped and tore limbs away, Theresa charged, launching her body up onto her friends powerful back. She leapt.

Swwchhhwiiiing!

Twin blades whirled, she landed atop the gibbering legionplanting her feet on a pair of its raised shieldsthen severed more arms when it stabbed at her. The beast roared, shaking itself like a bucking horse, but Grimloch, joined by Claygon, held it in an iron grip.

It was going nowhere, and no help was coming to help it.

Brutus joined with Thundar, Svenia and Hogarth, tore through chitterers trying to flank the rest of the team. Meikara stood at their backs, healing Thundar and her other teammates' wounds with blood magic.

But, they werent the only ones healing.

A gurgling, squelching sound was coming from the commanders wounds as its flesh knitted back together almost as quickly as the team was dealing damage to it. It wasnt generating limbs like the blood-hydra did, but its wounds healed even faster than the nine-headed creatures hadexcept for those dealt by Cedric.

The Chosens divine-sheathed spear had burned the creatures flesh wherever it touched, and those gaping wounds were lingering, fresh and raw. Uldars power rejected the Ravener-spawn, cursing its wounds and spurning its regeneration.

Rmmmmble!

Mana was gathering beneath Alexs feet again.

He glanced down and vaulted away as...

Shcnk! Schnk! Schnk!

More spikes burst from the stone; a profusion of spears shot through the air, seeking to impale him from below. Relentless-the commanderits movements still sluggish, lurched toward him, battling the sleeping potion coursing through it. Its movements were jerky, uncoordinated. Alex could see flesh withering as the elementals sucked and purified its life fluids, turning some of its limbs into something resembling shrivelled fruit.

It tried stabbing at the spirits, but its weapons were too long; it couldnt angle the blades properly to reach the little creatures draining it. Desperately, the monster raised a half dozen weapons

and threw them straight at Alex.

Spikes shot at him from all sides.

Oh shi

The Fool propelled himself into the air, tucking his arms and legs in, spinning to the side, using the Mark to guide the motion. He whirled above the creatures spears, and dodged some of the weapons.

But four kept shooting right for him.

Alex clenched his teeth and trusted his defending spells, mentally guiding them in patterns from the Cleansing Movements.

Clash!

His forceshield shot up, knocking aside a pair of swords spinning through the air. His sole remaining deflective force rectangle shattered while guiding the spear away, leaving him grunting as the last sword scraped along his force armour.

He landed, took a deep breath then jumped away from the commanders next lunge. His spells had saved him. If hed had lesser force armour cast instead of force armour, the weapon would have sliced him. The breath flowed through him, as he panted, listening for the sound of Claygons fire-gems charging.

A lot had happened so fast: it felt like the gems were taking a lifetime to charge.

Come on he thought, using his haste-enhanced speed to dodge around the creatures next lunge. Come on!

As he scrambled away, the commander reached down with those six hands and grabbed at the Water Elementals, trying to tear them loose. The little spirits tried to slip away, but too many hands reached for them, plucking them off, hoisting them between two of many hands then

Splat!

Clapped them between them.

Pooof!

The pair of Small water Elementals vanished, sent back to their home plane.

Damn you! Alex cursed the creature. Beetles! Attack the monster in front of me! Bite at it in a loop!

Schhhnk!

Spikes rushed at him, spearing up from the floor and

Whiiish!

he just caught the whistle of more shooting from the ceiling like crossbow bolts. He dove to the side.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

They exploded against the stones where hed been a heartbeat earlier.

Alex rolled then kipped up to his feet in one fluid motion.

His swarm wasnt attacking.

Where are they?

His eyes scanned the chamber and found them on the floor twitching, their minds likely overwhelmed by screeching from the pair of gibbering legions.

Alex swore: no reinforcements for himbut the same wasnt true for the commander.

Chitterers were rushing the young wizard from behind, while another horde was scrambling for him with out-stretched claws.

Leaping back, he yelped as more stone spears shot toward him from all sides and the commander lunged. Hed be overwhelmed in no time. His Wizards Hand finally drew a flight potion from his bag.

Alex reached for it.

Thwack!

One of the chitterers slapped the Hand, bursting the spell. The potion bottle shattered on the ground as the world around Alex suddenly sped up.

His Haste potion was fading.

Thoughts whirled.

Spears were shooting for him.

Chitterers reaching for him.

The gibbering legion barrelled down on him.

Too many directions at once.

Nowhere to run.

Think. Adapt.

His mind stopped.

There was one place to run.

With the last of his Haste enhanced speed, he leapt, twisting through the air.

Toward the commander.